Rep. Katrina Jackson's legislation
to regulate abortion has been the subject of several
rumors and speculation, some of it inaccurate, said advocates on both
sides of the issue.

Jackson, D-Monroe, said Wednesday that her bill does not seek to restrict access to the morning after pill, also called Plan
B, or to create a state database of women who have had abortions or used the morning after pill, as some people have claimed.

Some
abortion-rights advocates, who are fighting Jackson's legislation,
agree with
her assessment. They said the bill isn't trying to regulate
contraception and the so-called database is actually an anonymous
reporting requirement that helps the state keep statistics on the number
of abortions performed.

If anything, the abortion-rights
advocates wish people would focus on other aspects of Jackson's bill,
elements they said have not received much publicity.

A fair amount of attention has been given to the proposed requirement that doctors who perform abortions have admitting
privileges at a local hospital within 30 miles of the place where the
abortions take place. Similar legislation passed in Texas last year and
forced 19 clinics in that state to shut down.

But little has
been said about changes Jackson had proposed that could require doctors
who perform the procedure only occasionally to now be licensed as an
outpatient abortion provider with the state.

Physicians used to
only have to register with Louisiana if they performed more than five
abortions per month. Now, they would have to acquire a license if they
perform more than five abortions per year.

Abortion-rights
advocates said this stricter measure will scare off doctors who do not
regularly perform abortions, but want to provide the services to
patients. Their name, location and status as an abortion provider
would be public information.

Some abortion clinics have also faced difficulties in getting licensed. The Department of Health and Hospitals has to approve all such applications and it scrutinizes abortion providers closely.

"Getting licensed is a real problem," said Ellie Schilling, a New Orleans lawyer who advises abortion providers on legal matters.

Physicians who provide a pill or other type of chemical that induces an abortion would also face greater regulation under Jackson's proposal. The bill requires that doctors follow the same procedures for a medicinal abortion as they have to follow for a traditional abortion. For example, they would have to wait 24 hours before administering the drug, just as they would if they were conducting a surgical procedure.

Abortions induced through a pill or chemical would also have to be reported to the Department of Health and Hospitals, just as surgical abortions are. Jackson said this is no different from other types of sensitive statistics the state keeps.

"This is just like what we do with STDs. This is also how we get our STD statistics," said Jackson.